Revisiting the past
What’s the gap?
To understand biodiversity change, we need a record of biodiversity change. Join this challenge to help us bridge time gaps in biodiversity data!
Some of the most valuable information we have from the past is from naturalists who spent hours in the field, looking for species they love. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer of us can invest our lives into observing nature in this way, though we may share a passion for nature and the outdoors. Gaps are appearing not just in space, but also in time: as data gets older, we become less certain that the species is still there. By revisiting past observations, we can better understand how biodiversity is changing to prevent biodiversity losses.
Where should you go?
To bridge this gap, we encourage you to revisit places that were sampled in the past. We’ve highlighted historically-sampled places that are close to roads for you to choose from, which you can see on these maps:
Amphibians
The locations on this map are suggestions and not exact coordinates of where to sample. We cannot determine safety, ownership, or access to these lands. Please verify that you can legally and safely access these sites.
Who created this challenge?
This challenge was the first one created for Blitz the Gap, designed by Laura Pollock, Isaac Eckert, Pierre Rogy, and Katherine Hébert. We are all part of the Quantitative Biodiversity Lab at McGill University led by Laura. We use data from sources like iNaturalist to build biodiversity models that help us understand and predict biodiversity and how it is changing.